"Reading is the creative center of a writer's life." — Stephen King
February 25, 2016
This is the first line in the “Unofficial Missouri Poem” written by William Trowbridge, his state’s Poet Laureate. A recording of his reading of this poem includes laughter from the audience in 15 places. How refreshing! With the exception of Billy Collins, it’s hard to find university-trained-and-credentialed … Read More
February 18, 2016
Until Randy Pausch got on stage at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver his now-famous “Last Lecture,” he hadn’t told students or colleagues that Carnegie Mellon had initially rejected his application to go to graduate school there; it was only after his professor at Brown intervened that the … Read More
February 11, 2016
Simultaneously a “breathtaking memoir” and a “small instant classic of nature writing,” this book juggles multiple themes and techniques. One often-used technique is metaphor: we meet a fellow who is as “serene as a mid-ocean wave” and see the deer “ankle their way … Read More
February 4, 2016
Instead of answering the question “What method of teaching works best?” Ken Bain explores “What environment supports deep learning most successfully?” In the best environments, he argues, students try to solve problems they find intriguing, beautiful or important; they feel challenged and supported; they work collaboratively; … Read More
January 28, 2016
According to Ken Bain, there are three styles of learners: surface learners, who aim to quickly memorize key words and facts; strategic learners, who aim for top grades and efficiency; and deep learners, who aim to “answer questions or solve problems that they regard as important, intriguing, … Read More
January 21, 2016
This line from a conversation between a seventy-seven year-old poet and an IRS agent about a poem by James Wright in the short story “Yancey” is vintage Ann Beattie: it’s an astute comment in an unusual situation by characters who come to each other from unanticipated angles… Read More
January 14, 2016
The authors’ answer to this question: “[T]he first job of any book is to get itself read.” Narrative tension, they observe, “remains a highly effective tool for keeping the reader engaged with the material” (179). If that’s so, why don’t all writers use narrative techniques? Perhaps because … Read More
January 7, 2016
When the Paris Review interviewer ask Mary Karr – author of the wild memoir The Liars’ Club — what the biggest problems were with memoirs today, she said, “They’re not reflective enough. They lack self-awareness.” The importance of developing a capacity for reflection is one of the … Read More
December 31, 2015
2015 has been a wonderful year for publishers and readers. My “Best of 2015” list consists of the books that I am most likely to read again. In the memoir category, Norway’s Karl Ove Knausgaard’s fourth volume of My Struggle is part of a series that I … Read More
December 24, 2015
They didn’t invite Anders Breivik to see their pets because they knew that he tortured his pet rats by poking them with pencils. One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway provides layers of details about the man who killed 77 people … Read More
December 17, 2015
So often, I see my students take an adversarial stance when they sit down to write. They use phrases such as “grinding it out” and “forcing it” to describe how they work. Sometimes that’s been my experience, too. But does it have to be? What if we … Read More
December 10, 2015
This book aims to answer that question by outlining a “sustainable, cost-effective way to support faculty who want to improve college teaching” (1). The lead author is Gail O. Mellow, president of LaGuardia Community College, who helped developed a system that is based on self-reflection, a … Read More
November 26, 2015
Today is Thanksgiving Day — the perfect time to acknowledge with gratitude The Writer’s Almanac, American Life in Poetry, and the Poetry Foundation. These organizations email poems to thousands of people like me who wish to read new work by new poets every day. I … Read More
November 19, 2015
This book is based on the author’s research, conducted over a period of 20 years, on the work habits of faculty members. He studied the behavioral patterns of academics as they taught, wrote, and interacted with their colleagues. From this, he developed a set of strategies that … Read More
